Internal-combustion engine.



. s. MAXWELL.

INTERNAL COMBUSTIN ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 29| [916y Patented Jan. 15, 1918.

III

lnun-lmumu G. s. M'AxwsLL.

INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 29.1916.

Patented J an. 15, 1918,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE s. MAXWELL, or WASHINGTON, Disraic'r or coLUMBiA, assraiioa 'ro A. RALPH SEItVEN, TRUSTEE, 0F' WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA,

INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application tiled September 2B, 1918:" Serial No. 122,859.

1 o att 'ui/mm 'w may concern.'

Be it known that l, Gnocca S. MAXWELL, a citizen of the United States, residingl at Washington, in the District of Columbia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Internal-Combustion Engines; and I do declare the following tobe a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such will enable others-skilled in the artto which it appertains to make, and use the samc,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters and figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

My invention-.relates to internal combustion engines, and it has for its object to decrease the cost of fuel consumption in 'auto gas, which may be a fixed gas, c

explosive substance or a combustible Huid mobile or explosive engines. A

To the accomplishment of the foregoing lthe invention contemplates the employment of' a reservoir supplied with an explosive or a,volati1e or. mixture, under pressure, a reservoir containing a suitable volatile combustible substanceor mixture, and means operating under variations in pressure .in one reservoir for supplying the compressed gasv or material tothe volatile combustible material to maintain a substantially constant or regulated" ressure in the volatile combustiblematerial containin reservoir, so that an enriched as or com lustible mixture will be supplied the engine. The invention furthermore contemplates the emplo ment, in connection With-tbe foregoinggo means for' supplying such enriched gas tothe en ine under variations in pressure within intakeV pipe of the engine so that there will be an automatic supp y of the enriched fuel to the engine plying volatile combustible material frontits l containing reservoir, in the event offailure of matic supply Supply,

as from its yterial from vits reservoir to the engine, or

from other causes;

. int e Vusual way in sup ly of gasolene or fuel to the -carbureter as fuel `as demanded for running` also to provide means for supalso to provide'for the the event ci the failure, Yof a supply of the enriched fuel, or of fuel t e air supply or.

""tween the pipes.

'selected .from the volatile combustible-material containing, reservoir; and also to provide' for the fuel being supplied from one or more of the sources of supply as desired.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and such other objects as may hereinafter appear the invention consists in the features hereinafter particularly described and then sought to be clearly defined by the claims, reference being had to the accompanying 'drawings forming a part hereof, and in which-'- Figure section illustratingone embodiment of my invention; y

Fig. 2 is a like view of one modification of the construction;

Fig.` 3 a detail View illustrating pipe coni nections to and from 'the volatile combustible material containing reservoir.

ln the drawings the numeral 1 designates a carbureter of any preferred well known construction the carburetor; 3 the throttle;-'and' 4, the manifold intake between the carbureterand explosive engine (notshown) all of which elements and their ordinary pur ose'ancl operation are well known and need description.

An auxiliary intake pipe 5f is provided which 'as illustrated in Fig. 1 may connect with'the intake 2 between its throttlevalve and carbureter or as illustrated in Fig. 2 may connect with the manifold intake 4 between the carburetor and the explosive engine (not shown). The auxiliary intake 5 communicates .at one end with an air intake 6 and at the junction of the two pipes is a 4suitable This `,valve in the form for il'lustrationjb is carried by a swinging arm 9 pivoted at 10 and under the influence of .a compression spring 11 iwhose tension maybe varied by an adjusting screw sion,

be supplied to the reservoir through `a ca p covered' :opening 15. This reservoir is` iii communication with areservoir 16 lnvvhich 1s stored an explosive gas under ,compres-v Patented Jan.15,191s. i

1 is a side elevation with parts in or type; 2 the intake pipe tol the gas being a fixed gas, or ,volatile explosive or' combustible fluidor mixture no further valve 7 to control the port 8 beasu iii-

and which is designed to enrich the volatile combustible material contained in the reservoir 14 so as to produce a highly =etlicient combustion fuel at the minimum or greatly reduced volume of consun'iption so as to very materially lessen the cost of running the engine. Between the two reservoirs, for

. instance in the piping or conduit 17 through which communicatlou between the reservoirs is established, l place a suitable, pressure regulating or reducingl device for the purpose of maintaining a substantially uniform or constant pressure in the reservoir 14 whatever be the pressure or varying pressure in the storage reservoir 16. This pressure reducer or re ulator comprises a shell or case 18 divided ya partition 19 into two compartments 20 and 21, the lower compartment or. chamber being provided with an elastic or fiexible diaphragm 22. The upper chamber or con'll'nirtment 2() communicates by one branch of the pipe or conduit 17 with the compressed gas storage reservoir 16 and by the other branch of the conduit with the volatile combustible material reservoir 14, preferably below the combustible inatcrial contained therein, and the upper portion of the reservoir 14. is in comuumication th'rough a pipe 23 with the chamber 21 of the pressure regulator 18 beneath the diaphragm `The gas receiving orifice 2t of the chamber is opened orolosed by a valve 25, preferably of the needle type, which works through thepartition 19 and has its lower end resting upon a lever 26, the free end of which rests upon a stud 27 attac-hed to the diaphragm'QQ, so that when thc diaphragm raised by a predetermined or exccssof pressure in chamber 21 beneath the diaphragm the lever will be actuated so as-to lift the valve and close the inlet orifice 24 so as to cut otf the` supply of compressed gas from reservoir 1Gl until the pressure vin chamber 21' is reduced, whereupon the lever 26 and valve 25 will fall so as to open the inlet orifice 24. for the supply of additional compressed gas to the chamber 20 from `which it will pass through pipe 17 to the reservoir 14 and through the combustible material contained therein soas 'to cnrichthe same. lVhen the.

pressure in reservoir 14 reaches a predetermined degree the diaphragm 22 is forced upward ,so as to move the/lever 2G and lift the valve 254 to cut ofi' the supply of compressed gas from reservoir 1G until nocessary to supply more `as from the. reser-A voir which is determined by thereducton of pressure in reservoir 14 due to consumption of the volatile combustible m.|te|ial from reservoir 1'4. Tho chan'lher `of the reducing device and associated partswvill be so proportioned as t0 effect the operation described.' While yI have illustrated and'` described the preferredconstruct-ion of parts "The supply ot' for the 1purposes in view yet changes may be made tierein without departing from the essential features for effecting the results sought. It is preferable that the 'Jressure in reservoir 14 should be slightly above atmospheric pressure which will be maintained by valve 7 kee ing closed the discharge end of pipe 13. y atmospheric pressure in the auxiliary intake plus the tension of sl'iring 9. When however there is reduction of pressure in the auxiliary intake sufficient 'to overcome the resistance of spring 11 the valve 7 will be drawn away from the discharge end of pipe 13 and from the ort 8, whereupon the enriched com!v bustiiile gas from the reservoirl as Well as. air from the intake 6 will auxiliar intake 5 and from t ence throu h either t e intake 2 or the manifold intay e 4, according to the form of construction' used, and to the engine cylinder (not showin) and there be exploded in the usual way and for t-he usuai purpose. When the suction inthe auxiliary intake 5 createdby' the engine is reduced sutiiciently the pressure of spring 11 will close the valve 7 and the supply of ,fas from reservoir 14 and air from intake 6 will be cut oil' unt-il the variation of pressure in the auxiliar intake is again sufficient for the automatic dpening of the valve for` additional sup! ply of explosive gas and air to the engine, and thus cession. y

In the manner described an enriched combustible gas is furnished not nly for start,- ing but also for continuing t e running of the engine., and without the vI iecessty of using a carburetor as ordinarilr practised. lt also results in materially decreasing the cost of fuel consumption as the.. sameI volume of gasolcne or volatile combustible material will last longer owing to the enriching of the volatile combustible` material by the addition of the compressed fixed -gas and the automatic supply oi the enriched combustible fue] to thev engine as w'ell as'the automatic supply. of the compressed gas to the volatile combustible material in the storage. reservoir in which a substantially uniform or const-int pressure is maintained. ihe enriched explosive gas or mixture is not atiected by weather conditions as the supply o't' the compressed gras to the vol'aitile combustible*materia-l in the reservoir 14 obviates the necessity ot a prelinlinar)v heating o1 the engine to ob p combustible or explosive fuel. supply of compressed gas'viu the 'reservoir 1,-6 is exhausted, the reservir may be dc-A tached and replaced by another charged reservoir for rep'lcr shi-ng the supply. i In eventfofx le-p ossa-rc ret'lucing,r valve betwecnithe'ies -14 a'n'd 16, or the auto- When 4the.

ass into the' 'atl the operation is repeated in sucwarming oft' parts ofA tain efficiency .from the `The reservoir 1,4 isconnected by an emergency pipe or conduit 28 with the carbureter 1, and lis provided with a. cock 29 so that if it be opened the volatile combustible fluid in. reservoir let may flow to the carbureter so that it may there be utilized in the `customary way. This may be so whether it be supplef' mental to the enriched combustible fuel material passlng through the auxiliary intake 5, or be the enriched combustible material alone passing from the reservoir 14 through the emergency pipe 28, or-be thevolatile con bustible material supplied from the reservoir' 14, with the supply of compressed gas from the reservoir 16 cutoff by means of the stop cock 30 provided for that purpose in the pipe or conduit 17 which eflects communication between the reservoirs 16 and 14.

1n 'addition tothe foregoing there may be provided a tank or reservoir 31 for storing; gasolene or` other combustible fluid or mixture which may be supplied to the carbureter through a pipe 32 provided with a stop cock 33 for use in the ordinary way. It will thus be observed thatin the event of the vetliciencyofany one of therme-rhode of supply of fuel being impaired from any cause Whatever itmay be supplemented or for the time being supplanted by one of the others, or if for-anycause desirable, the fuel may be supplied at the Sametime from the several sources oli supply. It will be understood that the several stop cocks may be connected by any desired means with appropriate manipulating devices within convenient reach of the driver or operator as maybe suggested by the skill of the mechanic and therefore not illustrated.

I have shown and described the necessary units and their conncctionsfand mode of operation with sufficientclearness lo enablel a person skilled in the art to practice the invention'butit is to be understood that in the main featuresV of the invention, I am not confined to the specilic constructionsk illustrated although they are. the preferred constructions. y

Having described my invcntionvand set forth itsfmerits what T claim is:

l. In linterna] con'il'iustion engines, the combination with means for conducting an explosive to the engine cylinder, of a reservoir for volatile combustible material, a reservoir containing under compression an enriching explosive agent, means effecting communcation between thev two reservoirs for enriching the contents nl oml by addif i tionf ill"'tlns compressml explosive agent of thel other, and means for, mixing air and the enriched combustible fuel and conducting it to the point of explosion.

2. In internal combustion engines, the combination with means-for conducting an `explosive to the engine cylinder, of a reserf voir for volatile combustible material, a reservoir containing under compression, an enriching explosive agent, means elfecting communication between the two reservoirs for enriching the contents of one by addition of the compressed explosiveagent of' the other, a pressure reducing device in communication with the two reservoirs for maintaining a substantially constant pressure in the reservoir containing the volatile lcombustible material.

3. In internal combustion engines, the combination with means for conducting an explosive to the engine cylinder, of a reservoir for volatile combustion material, a reservoir containing under compression an enriching explosive agent, means eileeting communication between the two reservoirs for enriching the contents of one by addition of the compressed explosive agent of the other, and a pressure regulated device for controlling the tiow of material from one reservoir into the other, said device op-` erating under variations of pressure in one reservoir to cut-oit' or supply material from one 'reservoir to the other.

L ln internal combustion engines, the combination with means for conducting an explosive to the engine cylinder, ot a reservoir for volatile combustible material, a reservoir containing under compression an enriching explosive agent, means effecting communication between the two reservoirs for enriching thewcontents of one by addition of ,the compressed explosive agent of the other, and al pressure regulated device in communication with both reservoirs for controlling the cut-olf and supply of material from onereser'voir to the other, said device including a valve and a diaphragm actuated by variation. of pressure in one of the reservoirs for automatically cutting-olf and sup, lyin the materia-l from one reservoir tot e ot er. y

-5. In internal combustion engines, a reservoir tor a volatile combustible material, a. reservoir containing under compression` an enriching explosive agent, means electng communlcation between 'the two reservo-irs for enriching the contents of one by addition of the compressed explosive a ent of the other, an air-intake, an intake 01' the passage of combustible fuel to' .the explosive cylinder of the` engine havlng a portcom 10 and a valve controlled emergency conduit combustible material l ervoir for a volatile combustible material, a reservoir containing runder compression an enrichin explosive agent, means effecting communication between' the two reservoirs for enriching the contents of one by uddition of the compressed explosive agent of f the other, an intake for the passage of combustible fuel `from the reservoir containing the volatile combustible material to the eX- plosive cylinderof the engine, a carbureter,

reservoir and the crbureter to supply reservoilr to tlllxe carblrete;

or supp ant t e suppy :o ,l the intake from the terial' from the to supplement fuel by way of voir.

l In testimony whereof I in presence of two witne aiiX my signature" sses.l

GEORGE s. MAXWELL.

1 Witnesses:

ROSE M. Sano EDA S. Wouw. 

